Profile Cellular Stress & Toxicity

Environmental changes including exogenous stressors such as chemical toxicants, xenobiotics, heat, and ionizing radiation affect the human body through a number of specific adaptive stress response pathways. Profiling these pathways is important for public health as it allows us to determine the toxic and carcinogenic potential of environmental compounds. Furthermore, with toxicity being one of the primary reasons potential drug candidates fail during development, screening lead compounds against these pathways is an essential part of the drug discovery process.

The LightSwitchTM reporter assay system allows for rapid and cost-effective toxicological evaluation and characterization of compounds in both the pharmaceutical and environmental arenas.

Profile Cellular Stress Response Pathways

The LightSwitchTM Validated Pathway Profiling Panel consists of a selection of pathways known to be activated by toxic physical and chemical insults as well as participate in cell fate decisions such as apoptosis. Screening compounds against this panel permits a preliminary inference of MOA, which can be used to generate hypotheses for further testing. More >

Examine the HIF-1α Pathway

Certain chemical toxicants such as metals can deplete oxygen availability in cells, and cause hypoxia. The LightSwitchTM Hypoxia Pathway Collection allows the screening of compounds against the HIF-1α pathway, including the hypoxia biomarker set of endogenous human promoter vectors, the HIF-1α synthetic response element, and the hypoxia stable cell line.

Elucidate Genotoxic potential

Due to the severity of DNA damage to the cell, it is of great public health interest to determine the potential of anthropogenic chemicals and other compounds found in the environment to cause DNA damage as likely toxicants, carcinogens and teratogens. The LightSwitchTM DNA Damage Pathway Collection allows for fast and cost-effective screening of the genotoxic potential of your compound of interest.

Measure Xenobiotic and Dioxin response

Identify xenobiotics with the potential to increase the expression of drug-metabolizing and disposition genes under regulatory control of the PXR, AhR, or CAR nuclear receptors (NR) by monitoring the induction of:

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can interfere with the hormone system, causing cancer and developmental disorders. The LightSwitchTM Hormone NR Pathway Collection allows monitoring of the steroid receptors, such as the estrogen (ER) and glucocorticoid (GR) receptors, which are the sensors that monitor and respond to changes in circulating steroid hormone levels to maintain body homeostasis.

Toxicology High Throughput Screening Services

Let us do the work for you! The LightSwitchTM Custom Pathway Screening Services will perform your toxicology screen for you utilizing the validated Profiling Pathway Panel or any custom combination of our validated pathway assays and/or endogenous promoter collection.